Adjustable chair back



31, 1937. H. J. HEMMINGER ET AL 2,091,733

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR BACK Filed Sept. 24, 1936 Patented Aug. 31, 1937ADJUSTABLE CHAIR BACK Harry J. Hemminger, Savannah, and Cecil W.

Hawks, Hayesville, Ohio Application September 24, 1936, Serial No.102,344

' 4 Claims. (01. 155-158) 5 justable back.

When a child comes to a barber shop for a haircut or the like, it iscustomary for the barber to either place a box upon the seat of thebarber chair or a board across the arms of the chair for the child tosit on so as to raise his head above the top of the chair back in orderthat the barber may reach over the back of the chair to cut the hairupon the back of the childs head and neck.

horizontal arm rests l4, back rest indicated generally at l and footrest I6 are designed to be moved in unison so as to tilt the back I5 andsimultaneously raise the foot rest Hi.

This may be accomplished in usual manner by providing the rigid arms I!and ill at the rear and front corners of the bottom frame I2, links 59being pivotally connected to the arms I! as at 20 to support the back,while the arms 2| carrying the foot rest are pivoted intermediate theirends upon the rigid arms H! as indicatedat 22.

The chair arms l4 may be provided at their front and rear ends with thedepending rigid ears 23 and 24 respectively, for pivotal connece It hasalso beenfound by experience that many tion to the upper ends of thearms 2| and links 15 adults of short stature, particularly women, whenl9 as indicated at 25 and 26 respectively, all as seated in a barberschair are not tall enough for in usual and well known practice. Thus asthe the barber to easily work upon the back of the chair back I5 istilted backward upon the pivot head and neck, making it necessary forthe bar- 26, the chair arms M will move backward and her to reach downover the chair back while slightly downward while the foot rest 16 willbe the customer must lean forward. swung upward and forward.

The object of the present improvement is to In carrying out theinvention, so as to provide overcome such difficulties by providing avertifor vertical adjustment of the chair back l5 cally adjustable chairback which may be quickly relative to the chair seat, the links l9,instead and easily adjusted to any desired height so of being rigidlyconnected to the chair back as that the top of the chair back may bepositioned in usual and well known practice, are provided just below theback of the occupants neck, per with rearwardly disposed extensionscarrying mitting the barber to have easy access to the tubular guides 21through which are slidably 10- back of the head and neck. cated theupright guide rods 28, the upper and 30 A further object is to providesuch an adjustlower ends of which may be bent inwardly as 30 able chairback without in any way interfering at 29 and provided with attachingears 3!! conwith the usual construction or operation of chairs nected tothe metal frame l5 of the chair back of this general type, permittingthe chair back as by rivets 3| or the like. This chair back to be tiltedbackward to any desired angle. frame I5 may be upholstered in usualmanner The above objects together with others which as indicated at 32,providing a cushion for the 35 will be apparent from the accompanyingdrawback 0f the occupant. ing and the following description, or whichmay Thus it will be seen that the entire chair back be later referredto, may be attained by conmay be vertically moved relative to the chairstructing the improved chair in the manner illusseat. Any suitable meansmay be provided for trated in the accompanying drawing, in which thepurpose of holding the chair back in vertim Figure 1 is a side elevationof a chair provided cally adjusted position. The means shown in with avertically adjustable back in accordance the drawing comprises a ratchettooth rack 33 with the invention; and attached to the front of the backframe l5 at Fig. 2, a section taken as on the line 22, each side of thecushion 32, as by rivets 34 or Fig. 1. the like. 5

Similar numerals refer to similar parts A pawl may be mounted upon eachlink IQ for throughout the drawing. engagement with the ratchet teeth ofthe racks The improved chair may include the usual 33, these pawls beingindicated at 35 and pivcylindric pedestal 10 within which is mountedotally located through ears 36 forward upon the the verticallyadjustable ram II by means of tubular guides 21, as indicated at 31. 5O

which the entire chair as a unit may be raised or lowered as in usualpractice.

The chair includes a metallic frame l2 mounted upon the ram l I andprovided with the usual 5 upholstered seat I3. As in usual practice, the

In order to simultaneously operate both pawls, they may be formed as theextremities of a horizontally disposed bar 38 which extends across theback of the chair back, providing a handle by means of which the pawlsmay be tilted into or out of engagement with the ratchet teeth.

It will be seen that the chair back may be quickly and easily adjustedto any desired height, one hand being placed beneath the frame I5 of theback while the other hand grasps the bar 38. By raising this bar bothpawls are moved out of engagement with the ratchet teeth and the backmay be slidably moved up or down to the desired height and the pawlsre-engaged with the ratchet teeth to hold the back in the adjustedposition. i

It will be seen that suflicient vertical adjustment of the back isprovided to position the same at the correct height to place the top ofthe back below the head of the occupant regardless of Whether a child orperson of small height is seated in the chair, thus permitting thebarber or other operator to have free access to the back of the head andneck of the occupant, over the top of the chair back.

Although one particular form of mechanism is illustrated and describedfor vertically adjusting the chair back, it should be understood thatthe invention is not restricted to any such mechanical means but may beaccomplished in many different ways without departing from the spirit ofthe invention asset forth in the claims.

We claim:

1. A chair for use by barbers and the like including a seat frame,substantially upright links pivotally connected at their lower ends tothe front and rear portions of the seat frame at each side thereof,substantially horizontal arm rests pivotally connected to the upper endsof said links, rearwardly disposed extensions upon the rear links,normally upright tubular guides carried by said rearwardly disposedextensions, a normally upright back rest, guide rods fixed to the sidesof the back rest and slidably mounted in said tubular guides so as toslide said back rest up and down in a path behind the seat framepermitting the lower portion of the back rest to move to a point belowsaid seat frame, and means for holding saidback rest in adjustedposition.

2. A chair for use by barbers and the like including a seat frame,substantially horizontal arm rests, means supporting the arm rests abovethe seat frame, rearwardly disposed extensions connected to said meansextending to a point rear- Ward of said seat frame, normally uprighttubular guides carried by said rearwardly disposed extensions, anormally upright back rest, guide rods fixed to the sides of back restand slidably mounted in said tubular guides so as to slide said backrest up and down in a path behind the seat frame permitting the lowerportion of the back rest to move to a point below said seat frame, andmeans for holding said back rest in adjusted position.

3. A chair for use by barbers and the like including a seat frame,substantially horizontal arm rests means supporting the arm rests abovethe seat frame, rearwardly disposed extensions connected to said meansextending to a point rearward of said seat frame, a normally uprightback rest substantially vertically slidably mounted upon said extensionsso as to slide up and down in a path behind the seat frame permittingthe lower portion of the back rest to move to a point below said seatframe, forwardly disposed ratchet teeth at each side of the back rest, ahorizontally disposed bar located behind the back rest and havingits'ends bent forwardly and then inwardly and pivoted upon saidrearwardly disposed extensions and arranged to engage said ratchetteeth.

4. A chair for use by barbers and the like including a seat frame,substantially upright links pivotally connected at their lower ends tothe front and rear portions of the seat frame at each side thereof,substantially horizontal arm rests pivotally connected to the upper endsof said links, rearwardly disposed extensions upon the rear links, aback rest substantially vertically, slidably mounted upon saidrearwardly disposed extensions, forwardly disposed ratchet teeth at eachside of'the back rest, a horizontally disposed bar located behind theback rest and having its ends bent forwardly and then'inwardlyandpivoted upon said rearwardly disposed extensions and arranged toengage said ratchet teeth.

HARRY J. I-IEMMINGER. CECIL w. HAWKS.

